Two youth ride an electric bike without helmets, on the streets of Bend in 2023. (Bulletin file)

The most important thing to do when riding a bike is to wear a helmet.

Check out Virginia Tech’s helmet ratings. Get the best one you can afford.

It takes one small mistake or mishap for someone to end up with a concussion or much, much worse. Helmets reduce the possibility of brain injury by more than half and of severe brain injury by 75%, according to one study. Less than half of e-bike riders who ended up hospitalized were wearing helmets, according to a study JAMA from 2024.

So as happy as we were to see the city of Bend found a vendor to keep an e-bike bike share program going, our first thought was about the brains of the riders. The city did not require a provision for helmets within its licensing agreement with the vendor. Helmets are not mentioned in the agreement.

The vendor, Veo, recommends people wear helmets. It hands some out at events. The city encourages people to wear them, too. And for adults, helmets are not required in Oregon on bikes. Helmets are also not so easy to provide to rental bike riders in a dispersed system.

Some people will carry around a helmet with them. But we bet we’ll see what we have seen from the city’s e-bike program in the past: People riding, having a good time, getting exercise, reducing congestion, helping the environment, with their brains dangerously exposed.